November « 2009 « KatieFloyd.me

New Mac Roundtable Posted

Mac Roundtable Podcast

I had the pleasure of recording another episode of the Mac Roundtable with Allison Sheridan(Nosillacast) Adam Christianson (The MacCast), Don McAllister (ScreenCastsOnline) and Jonathan Cost (Mac Tips Daily). We talked about finding deals on tech products, iPhone GPS Apps, the AppleTV and more. Check it out at www.macroundtable.com or, better yet, subscribe in iTunes.

Mac Power Users – Buying and Selling a Mac

I’m a little late posting this, but David Sparks and I recently published Episode 14 of Mac Power Users. We talk all about tips for buying a new Mac, what to be on the lookout for when buying a used Mac, and how to get top dollar when selling your Mac. You can subscribe in iTunes here.

Black Friday

I confess, I like nice things that work beautifully and elegantly. That’s why I use a Mac, buy nice furniture and have kitchen full of gadgets despite my sore lack of domestic skills. But I am also very frugal and I don’t believe in debt. In order to satisfy my desire for the greatest gadgets while keeping my banker happy, compromises have to be made. I research products fully before I buy them and search out the best deals.

Black Friday is usually one of my biggest shopping days of the year. But this year things are a little different. For one, I blew my discretionary budget on new living room furniture. Secondly, I’m not seeing amazing deals on products I need or plan to give as gifts this season. That being said, there are still some excellent deals out there. And since I personally won’t be participating in the Black Friday festivities this year, I thought I would live vicariously through all of you and post a few of my favorite Black Friday deals here. Because I live in the US, the below deals are valid in the states on Friday, November 27th. However check the respective websites because many of these deals or similar ones may also be available internationally.

Computers
There are some killer deals out there on Apple computers today. MacRumors and AppleInsider have a pretty good listing of deals available from Apple Authorized Resellers. Generally speaking, MacConnection tends to have some of the best prices of the day on systems but make sure you do your on research and compare prices. Examples of some deals include up to $150 off MacBooks with up to $300 off MacBook Pros. The beauty of buying from non-Apple authorized resellers is that you can usually save tax and sometimes they throw in extras in the form of bundles.

Before buying a Mac this holiday season, might I shamelessly plug our recent Mac Power User episode on Buying and Selling Macs for a good overview.

Airport Express
I love the Apple Airport Express base station. I have a couple in my house and hope to pickup a few more. I use them to connect to speakers throughout my house for customizable zones for audio that I can pipe my iTunes music through. They can also be used to share a printer wirelessly, create a small wireless network and extend a wireless network. This is a great gift for the geek who has everything, because even if they already have one, they can always use another. While already a deal at $99, today Apple has them on sale for $88. At that price, I may pick up a couple.

iPods and iPhones
iPods and iPhones rarely go on sale, and if so usually only a couple of bucks off. But there are deals to be had. Apple stores are cutting $11 off Nanos and up to $49 off the top-of-the-line iPod Touch. The AppleTV (another one of my personal favorites) is also cut by $21. Many third party resellers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart area offering gift cards with the purchase of select iPods. So if someone on your list is getting an iPod, today is a good Day to pick it up.

Also, there are some killer deals out there on refurbished iPhones. With activation, AT&T is offering the 16GB 3GS for $49 and the 32GB model for $149. Typically, I don’t recommend buying iPhones as gifts because the receiver is stuck with a pricey 2 year contract. But, if you have a family member you know is drooling for an iPhone or perhaps are willing to add them on to your plan, this deal is not to be missed.

Smile On My Mac Software
One of my favorite Apple software developers is Smile On My Mac. I use and recommend just about every one of their products. And, they’re really cool people to boot. Today, they’re having a 50% off sale on all their software. TextEpander and PDFPen are on my must-have list. Here are the details.

Other World Computing
One of my favorite Mac Retailers is Other World Computing. Sure, you can buy cheeper hard drives out there, but I’ve always had great success with OWC’s products. They also do a great service to the Mac community with their tutorials and upgrade videos. They have a great Black Friday Sale going on this weekend. Here are a few of my favorite items:
OWC Express 2.5″ HD Enclosure Kit – $9.99
Elgato EyeTV Hybrid – $85.00
NewerTech Voyager S2 Docking Station – $27.50
2TB Hitachi Drive with Mercury Elite-AL Pro enclosure – $199 (after rebate)

TiVo
I love TiVo, I don’t have a TV in my house that doesn’t have a TiVo box attached. I think Apple users especially will “get” why a TiVo is so much better than a standard cable company DVR. The TiVo HD boxes also have great features like Netflix streaming, Amazon downloads and CableCard support. The base TiVoHD model’s internal hard drive is fairly small and only accommodates 20 hours of HD Recording, so you may want to consider the XL model or the DVR Expander external drive. Tivo recently cut their price to $250 on the TiVoHD box. But, if you already own a TiVo box you can save up to $100 when upgrading to a TiVoHD. Friday only, they’re running a promo with Best BUy where you can get a TiVo HD for $100 when you buy any HD TV from Best Buy. Also check out their refurb store. Just remember, a service agreement is required.

That’s all for now, I may add to this list as a find new deals throughout the day. Feel free to post some of your favorites in the comments. Happy shopping!

MPU 014: Buying and Selling Macs

MPU Logo Mac Power Users Episode 014: Buying and Selling Macs is posted. In this episode we talk about tips and tricks when buying and selling Macs. Whether you’re a switcher buying your very first Mac, or a seasoned Mac user looking to sell an old machine, we’ve got your covered. We’ll help you figure out what accessories you need to complete your new Mac purchase, and where to get the most bang for your buck. We also talk about the trials and tribulations of buying a used machine and how to get the best value without getting scammed. We also cover how to get top dollar when selling your old machine.
You can view the shownotes here or better yet, subscribe in iTunes.

MacCore Website Problems

A couple of people have noticed that the MacCore website (www.themaccore.com) is offline at the moment. This is not intentional, but rather a DNS error. I’m told it can take up to 48 hours to be resolved but am hopeful that it will happen a lot sooner. (Hopefully the issue will be resolved by the time you read this post.) For now, you can access all the site content over at our backup domain: www.themaccore.info

The podcasts are still hosted over at Libsyn and the RSS feeds for iTunes appear to be working.

To be honest, I’m not really sure what we’re going to do with the website long term. The hosting bill is paid up until February 2010 so it will at least stay online till then. We host our podcast files on Libsyn and that’s paid monthly so the plan is to transfer the audio files over to our web hosting account at the end of November to keep them active as long as the site stays up.

Our podcast tended to focus on the news and current events so I’m not sure how valuable the content will be the further we get away from the original publish date. I may extend the hosting another 6 months or a year, but I’m not sure it really make sense to extend it much beyond that. If you have strong feelings on this either way, drop me a comment and let me know.

If you feel a need to keep any of the old shows, please feel free to download and archive them yourself. You’re free to redistribute them, as long as you keep them in their original form and provide attribution.

While I’m on the topic of the MacCore, I’ve had several people ask what Corey and I are planning to do now that the podcast is over. We covered this on show 87 that was released last week. But if you haven’t heard it, I’ve put our new contact information below. Corey is starting a new show called Mac Sliders. I’m going to continue to do the Mac Power Users Podcast and the Mac Roundtable. We’re both on twitter. So there’s plenty of more content coming.

Katie:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/katiefloyd

Blog: http://www.katiefloyd.me

Mac Power Users: http://www.macpowerusers.com

Mac Roundtable: http://www.macroundtable.com/

Corey:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/coreyserrins

Mac Sliders: http://www.macsliders.com

Update: The DNS issue is resolved and the site is back up.

Welcome to the new site…

I’ve been wanting to have my own blog for a while now, but never could seem to find the time. I really don’t want to make a commitment to a daily or even weekly blog. But I have wanted a place where I could post random thoughts or bits of information that perhaps didn’t seem to fit in any of the other podcasts I do. Perhaps a product review, a tidbit I’ve recently learned, something interesting I’ve just come across, and — my favorite — the occasional rant.

I’m not sure yet really what I’m going to do with this website. As you can see, its pretty sparse and very much a work in progress. The site you see now was thrown together very quickly simply so I could have a “landing pad.” But bookmark me, throw me in your RSS reader and be on the lookout for good things to come…

MPU 013: Task Management Smackdown

MPU Logo Mac Power Users Episode 013: Task Management Smackdown is posted. We’ve gotten a lot of requests for this episode, so here it is, our Task Management Smackdown. In one corner, David and The Omni Group’s Omni Focus. In another, Katie and Cultured Code’s Things. The duo discuss their system for managing tasks and how their preferred application helps to get things done. The verdict: the Mac has two excellent programs. You can view the shownotes here or better yet, subscribe in iTunes.